


One of the Beautiful People

by flightinflame



Series: Like a Rainbow [1]
Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: Coming Out, Crossdressing, Deaf Janos Quested, Friendship, Gay and Mutant in the 1960s, Gender Confusion, Genderqueer Character, Genderqueer Janos Quested, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:07:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24512044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flightinflame/pseuds/flightinflame
Summary: Angel's used to men staring at her. She doesn't expect it from Janos, but he won't take his eyes off her new dress.
Relationships: Azazel (X-Men)/Janos Quested, Janos Quested & Angel Salvadore
Series: Like a Rainbow [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1771255
Comments: 15
Kudos: 40





	One of the Beautiful People

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lavenderlotion](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lavenderlotion/gifts).



> To Lavenderlotion, because genderqueer Janos is her headcanon and she was kind enough to let me play.  
> Done for the pride prompt list found [here](https://marvel-events-central.tumblr.com/post/619707938620227584/junes-on-friends), day 2: Beyond the Binary

Angel sighed, frowning at the man opposite her. It was hardly the first time she'd had to deal with some idiot staring at her, but given Janos's closeness with Azazel, she'd hoped she'd got away from that for now, at least when it was just the two of them.

She knew she shouldn't complain - they'd spent the entire day on a shopping trip, bankrolled by Shaw, and she'd just given the man a show of all her new outfits. Now she was mixing herself a drink, wearing a beautiful dress, and Janos would not stop looking at her.

She glared at him, addressing him in Spanish, speaking slowly and clearly so there was no way that he could pretend he didn't understand. "¡No mira a me, monstruo!"

She wasn't expecting the hurt look that passed across Janos's face. There was a pause, and then he replied. She hadn't actually heard him speak before. His voice was unusually pitched, and a little mumbled, but she could make out the words clear enough.

"No miro a te." I wasn't staring at you.

She raised an eyebrow, switching to English. "You've been staring at me for at least the last five minutes."

He shook his head, glancing down, and then reaching for the notebook he used when Azazel wasn't there to translate for him. He scribbled something down, then held it up towards her. 'I was looking at your dress.'

She flicked her wings, about to accuse him of lying - she could recognise want, in a man's eyes - when she realised he was being honest. He hadn’t been looking at her, when he’d been staring with such obvious desire in his eyes.

“You want to try it on?” she asked, and he shook his head, face flickering with guilt. He gestured towards his shoulders, and frowned.

She considered, then nodded. He would tear the dress if he tried it on. But she had bought a silk housecoat, blue, with embroidery on earlier. “Come with me?” She held out her hand, and he hesitated for a moment, before he went with her to the small space in the submarine that she had claimed as her own, still piled high with boxes.

She dug through them until she found the housecoat, holding it out. He hesitated before he reached for it, eyes fearful, as though at any moment she would laugh at him for this. He wasn’t the first man she’d met who liked dresses - but she guessed he might be the only one that he knew. She nodded calmly, and he took it from her hands, turning away before he shrugged out of his jacket and pulled it on. 

The look of concern on his face when he turned back, followed by an almost desperate hope, was heartbreaking. Here he was, trying something new, and she could tell how afraid he was that she’d throw a tantrum, maybe call in Shaw. She tried to smile at him, and gestured towards the mirror.

He gazed at himself, smiling a little, preening. He flashed her a careful thumbs-up, as though expecting her to still react with anger, and when she didn’t, he spun around like a small child in a princess dress.

***

It was their secret after that. He didn’t want to tell Azazel, and Shaw finding out - well. She’d already witnessed him kill one of her friends. She didn’t want to risk another. 

It wasn’t often that he’d come to her room, and try on that housecoat, but he would, sometimes. Sometimes they’d settle, his head in her lap as she plaited his hair, or showed him how to put on makeup. He looked so peaceful there, and so grateful to her, for what wasn’t difficult for her to give.

She was sitting on her bunk, Janos beside her and painting her nails, lipstick on his lips, when there was a sudden burst of smoke.

She cursed, wishing that the teleporter would learn to knock, and flinching when she saw the sheer horror that crossed Janos’s expression at Azazel catching them.

Azazel stared, and for a moment the room was still, before he started signing at Janos, the movements fast, angry.

“Leave him alone,” Angel glared. Janos and her were close, and he knew things about her no one else did. She wouldn’t let him get hurt.

“I ask him if he want to be a girl, dress like this,” Azazel muttered, and Angel wrapped her arm around Janos’s shoulder protectively, as he blinked back tears.

Azazel cursed in Russian, then crouched down. “If he want to be a girl…. he still my Janos. Still beautiful.” He kissed Janos, and the other man smiled, and shook his head, grabbing his notebook and angling it so she could see as well. 

‘Not a girl.’ Janos wrote, then hesitated. ‘Just… not always a boy either. And this… was nice. Felt special. Good.’

“If pretty clothes make you feel good, you will have pretty clothes.” Azazel smiled. “I leave you two beautiful people. I see you later, beautiful.” He kissed Janos once more before he disappeared. 

Angel looked at how happy Janos was, the soft smile on his face, and rolled her eyes. “Go to him. I can paint my nails. And Janos?”

He looked at her curiously, tilting his head to one side.

She grinned. “Take the housecoat with you.”

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [you touch on me, firm, protective](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24526096) by [lavenderlotion](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lavenderlotion/pseuds/lavenderlotion)




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